My take on Crank the Kanc

Saturday morning was Crank the Kanc. A 21 mile time trial up the Kancamaugus Highway. It's basically up hill the whole way. We (DEA, A1 and I) decided to try out the new team format this year. It sounded like a good idea anyhow. A1 and I met at 6:30AM to stage a car at the top as the weather was not looking to nice to ride back down and we wanted to drive down and cheer on our wives who were riding it for the first time as their first bike races ever.

After registering and getting our start time we had a bit of time to hang out and wait. DEA arrived and both A1 and I made fun of him when he broke out his trainer and started warming up. We shouldn't have laughed as I definitely could have used something. We rolled up to the start line and got ready to roll as the timer ticked down and we were off. I stared out front and was supposed to do a 30 sec. turn on the front. We were quickly moving along at about 23 mph and I didn't peel off as soon as I should have. We were pulling close to a minute right out of the box. Once we stared to climb it became evident that we were not all riding at the same level this wet chilly morning. DEA was feeling great and A1 and I were just not right. I did not feel bad, but there was no snap in my legs. As we hit the 6 mile mark we were having trouble staying together and were staring to get strung out a bit. Sort of defeating the whole drafting thing.

The and of the first third of the ride was a 1/2 mile section that was under construction and all the pavement was torn up, so we were riding on dirt that was a mess. My HR quickly went from a comfortable 165 to 180ish and I was in the red. We regrouped once we were off the dirt but I had burned a match or three trying to keep momentum over the uneven dirt section.

The middle third of the course is the flattest, well its a false flat that continues to climb. A1 seemed to get his legs back and gave DEA a break out front and put in a nice pull but all of the sudden he peeled off and was spent. I was fortunate to be on the front for another couple town lines, probably the only uncontested lines I'll see all season, but I'll take em.

AS we hi the 16 mile mark the real climbing began. I was starting to feel a little better and were made our way up the climb. A1 was in front of me and I was just staying on his wheel keeping pace. At about the 18 mile mark I pulled in front of A1 and rode up front with DEA and was feeling better as we progressed up the hill. Figures that it took this long to find any legs. Problem was A1 was not feeling it. As we hit the last mile to go marker we picked off another team that was in front of us, but that joy was short lived as the Red Jersey team came by us with about 1/2 mile to go. We regrouped for the last 100 yards and rolled across the line.




It was a chilly wet day on the bike and was tough as I was not feeling 100% and neither was A1 so I think we both felt a little bad that we were not on top form to go along with DEA who was really feeling it. I guess that's what can happen with a TTT. I had a blast as its always nice to suffer with good friends.

Not too many events on the calendar for the next few weeks, but looking forward to getting in some long MTB rides over the long weekend coming up.

See ya on the trails....

JJ